Vanilla Bean Taste Test

After studying the effect of the vanilla in shortbread cookies, we made pastry chef Larissa Raphael’s panna cotta recipe with six different vanilla beans.

As with the vanilla extracts, the vanilla beans came from different areas of the world. As with the cookies, all of the panna cottas were delicious, but we had our favorites. In a recipe like panna cotta, it’s not only the flavor that can be improved, but the appearance of the bean specks, which are obtained by scraping the bean after it has been scalded in the cream. Different beans “speck” differently!

In fact, Larissa Raphael, whose profession includes perfecting her recipes even if they’re already superb, noted enough of a difference that she decided to change the type of vanilla she uses to one of the winners.

Larissa Raphael’s panna cotta recipe was used to
test the vanilla extracts. Here’s the recipe for
these delightful dessert.
Photo by Saidi Granados | THE NIBBLE.